Schmidts familietræ (www.sm1.dk)

anglicized to Peter John Thompson. - grandfather to Nancy Williams-Baron - mail 28/2 2014 - williams-baron@sbcglobal.net

He came from Denmark in 1906 with $10 in his pocket and a rail ticket to California, where is aunt Christine and sister Marie lived. Christine and Marie, aunt and niece, married the two Kerr brothers. John (my grandfather) lived with them off an d on, but travelled the country following work and his whim. He worked as a cowboy in Oklahoma, as a "sand hog" building underwater tunnels and foundation in Detroit, and as a carpenter. When England entered the First World War, he crossed int o Canada and volunteered. He was gassed at Ypres, and sent to England to recover, then back to Oakland, where he married his sister's best friend, Hazel Serena Johannsen. They settled in Oakland, where he worked at the Ford plant, making wheel s for the cars. From what my Mather tells me, his father had been a wheelwright in Denmark. I don't think he ever left the state again. He did not miss the the dark cold winters of Denmark; when my sister settled in Switzerland, he said "why wo uld you want to live in the Old Country when it is warm and sunny here all year round?"

John lived to his 98th birthday never having returned to visit Denmark. He kept in loose touch with his younger brother Nils, who lived in Esbjerg, and cousin Hanne Schmidt. Hanne had planned a visit to California which was cancelled by the Germ ans rolling in to Denmark, but she eventually came in the late sixties.

His two daughters, my mother Nancy and her sister Eleanor both stayed in the San Francisco bay area until they died. Eleanor had five children, three of whom are still living, and 8 grandchildren. My mother Nancy died two years ago. We are fou r children, and between us there are 9 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.